DMC Ville Apartment

http://www.korea4expats.com/service-DMC-Ville-Serviced-and-Furnished-Apartments-Seoul--831.html

DMC Ville Serviced and Furnished Apartments, Seoul

Housing in Seoul for Expats: Serviced and Furnished Apartments for Long and Short Term Foreign Residents/Visitors

Are you coming to Seoul for a few months?
Or looking for a place to stay before deciding on a permanent residence?

Do you want to escape from the hustle and bustle of downtown Seoul?
While still living relatively near your workplace and entertainment areas?

Are you on your own and wanting a place that’s secure and tailored to your needs?
And would you like to live where you have a pool and fitness center?

Would you like to live in a brand new modern facility?
Do you want the convenience of being near a subway line and close to the airports?

Well then DMC Ville is the place for you!

Our one, two and three-bedroom serviced apartments come furnished at very affordable rates.

You won’t believe you’re in Seoul!

And no, we’re nowhere near the DMZ – the border between South and North Korea. Actually DMC stands for Digital Media City.

DMC Ville features high quality suites and luxurious facilities, with 175 spaciously designed apartments comprising one, two and three bedrooms (63sq㎡~147sq㎡). Our rooms are all fully-furnished in modern designs with a large living room, comfortable bedroom, fully-equipped kitchen and laundry room.

DMC Ville was built with the foreign business travelers and short term foreign residents in mind, and offers all of its residents the following services and options:

SERVICES(no charge):
- 24-hour concierge, security and maintenance services
- Housekeeping service once a week (extra hours available)
- Fitness center
- Sauna
- Aerobics room
- Jacuzzi
- Squash Court
- Indoor swimming pool
- Driving range with putting green
- Wake-up calling service
- Travel and information services
- Shuttle bus service
- One free parking space per apartment
- Culture programmes for residents
- Continental breakfast service Monday thru Friday
- Broadband and Internet access (one line)

OPTIONS (small additional charge):
- Wireless Internet access
- Additional housekeeping hours

You can move into a DMCVille for as low as 1,687,000 won a month serviced one-bedroom apartment (this includes all the services listed above) or W4,000,000 won for a three-bedroom Premier apartment. No down payment or ‘key’ money required.

Note: Minimum stay one-month.

For more information (in English) or for a tour of the facility, contact:
June LEE
Sales & Marketing Manager
Tel. 02 380 4800
Fax. 02 380 4901
Dir. 02 380 4803
E-mail. junelee@dmcville.co.kr

I can't really say how it compares to high-class apartments in wealthy Korean neighborhoods. But it seems to offer as much or in some cases more facilities than most of the "rich" apartments.

http://www.dmcville.co.kr/

Tancheon Bicycle Road

There is some information and pictures posted on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tancheon

But the pictures on Wiki doesn't do it any justice. The photos were taken before the park was finished built I believe.











The Skyscrapers you see from the park are a group of apartments called Samsung Tower Palace.

Korean grammar 1 (Intermediate)

http://www.worknplay.co.kr/forums/forumsView.php?bbsID=forums&num=21165&cateCode=,P4U,L2T&start=&page=

'-곤 하다'

This grammar is used when you want to mention something you've done repeatedly in the past.

엣날에는 스키를 즐겨 타곤 했는데 요즘은 집에서 푹 쉬고만 있습니다.

Long time ago I used to ski a lot, but these days I just rest at home.

텔레비전을 많이 보곤 해서 어머니한테 많이 혼나곤 했습니다.

My mother nagged me for watching too much television.

Edited by Ahn Sun Hee (Korean Language Teacher)

Korean vocab 1

At minimum my blog is going to cover intermediate-level Korean vocabulary and grammar. I feel that there is a lot of resource on the internet covering elementary-level Korean; not enough emphasis is placed on intermediate or advanced Korean vocabulary or grammar.

So my blog will cover this on my own expense. That also means that I won't provide translations for every single vocab word or grammar that comes up here. If you've mastered basic-level Korean that these lessons won't be too difficult for you.

http://www.worknplay.co.kr/forums/forumsView.php?bbsID=forums&num=21149&cateCode=,P4U,L2T&start=&page=


술고래 (Liquor whale)- Heavy drinker, Alcoholic

선생님이 술고래예요.

The teacher is a heavy drinker.

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한때- Once

한때 결혼ㅤ했었습니다.

I was married once.

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저리다- to feel numb

수영을 하는데 발이 저려 와서 당황했습니다.

I was embarrassed when my foot got numb while swimming.

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바닥-floor

한국사람들은 옛날에 방바닥에서 잠을 잤습니다.

Long time ago, Koreans slept on the floor.

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화랑-gallery

내일 이태원에 있는 화랑을 갈 겁니다.

I’m going to a gallery in Itaewon tomorrow.

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Edited by Ahn Sun Hee (Korean language teacher)

Samcheon-dong pictures 3 (Samcheon-dong park)

Samcheon-dong pictures 2 (Samcheon-dong park)

Samcheon-dong also has a beautiful park nearby. Its a nice gettaway from the rest of Seoul. Plus, the park has one squirrel.

The thing that amazes me about parks in Seoul is the lack of squirrels. Even in areas where there are signs warning not to interfere with wild animals, there is hardly any wild animals to interfere with. Before touring around Samcheon-dong park I haven't seen even one squirrel in Seoul parks or Namsan mountain besides pigeons and one pheasant.

I don't know why that is, doing a quick search on the internet I'm not the only who realized that there are hardly any squirrels in Seoul.

So seeing a squirrel, even one little squirrel, in Seoul was a big deal to me.




It doesn't look like it, but the the pathway in the above photo leads to an spring that some Ajosshi's bath in.



The same pathway if I remember correctly.

This is the path I took to get from the Samcheon-dong neighborhood to Samcheon-dong park.

Video I made for my company (first and only film I ever made)

I'm working for a Foreign Language Education Institute (Korean, English, Chinese, Japanese) in Seoul. The institute's education program is mostly geared to 1:1 lessons and introductions to language exchange partners, but we do have a regular Korean course in the mornings.

The video is basically a slideshow of international parties taking place at our institute. Although, we are an education center, we emphasis on comfortability and cultural learning first rather than on strict regimes. That's how I wanted to reflect that in my video, by posting photos of cultural field trips and language exchange parties rather than our classrooms.

I hope you enjoy my video :)

Complicated Korean society

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/08/117_50032.html

By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

Sixty-seven year-old Kim Seong-hun stood in front of metro ticket counter at Seolleung station in Seoul for about five minutes Tuesday afternoon. Since he is over 65 years old, he is qualified for a free pass, but there were no staff at the counter. Instead, there was a message reading, "Please use the ticket machine."

With no staff to be found, Kim tried the machine but couldn't understand a word. "Why are all the processes so complicated?" he said.

Metro stations nationwide adopted new ticket machines in May, which they claim "replace the ticket selling staff." Gone are the 450 million paper tickets that were thrown into the rubbish bins annually, replaced with the new magnetic plastic tickets.

Seoul Metro had said the machines and new tickets could save 3.1 billion won ($2.5 million) a year and help the company lease the ticket counters as cultural venues.

However, many citizens are up in arms over the inconvenience it has caused.

At large stations such as Seoul Station, Samsung, Gangnam and several others, there are often long queues in front of the machines. Since people aren't yet accustomed to using the facility, it takes a long time.

Waste of Time

University student Lee So-young said it took her five minutes when she first used it. "It must take longer for elderly people or those who aren't used to using vending machines," she said.

At Dogok station on line 3 and several others, staff have installed a special desk near the vending machine during morning and evening commuting hours to help commuters with the machines. But during the afternoon and other times, passengers still struggle with the devices.

Some citizens are unhappy about the 500-won deposit they have to pay for the plastic card ticket. The deposit is refundable after use. It is making things more complicated for senior citizens or the disabled who had used it for free.

Kim said, "Before, all I had to do was go to the counter, show my identification card and get the ticket. But now, I have to manipulate the machine, pay 500 won and then collect it again," he said.

The process means a person has to queue up twice for one ride. "It's such a waste of time. Sometimes I just put it in my pocket because I've got to run," Lee said. Some Internet users say they have several plastic cards in their pockets because they couldn't find enough time for a refund.

Blogger Ttangarae said foreigners, who need help the most in Korea, also have problems with the system. "They would prefer the station staff's help the most. Moreover, the machine manuals are displayed in English and Korean only, leaving many non-English speakers stressed out. This system is bad in boosting tourism here," he said.

Another blogger, gilmour, said, "Machines replacing humans does not always bring efficiency. They cause great stress to people and the Seoul Metro should think whether they are really making their customers happy."

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr

I always thought it was a bad move for the Seoul Metro to replace the ticketing staff with the machines here. At least Seoul Metro company was considerate enough to make English-language manuals, but they've left out a large number of non-english speaking foreigners out. Especially, Japanese tourists, who from what I hear, take up the majority of the foreign tourists in Korea.

I knew even before the change was taking place, that the minds behind the design forgot to factor in foreigner's convenience. Usually, Koreans are so single-minded and collective on one goal that they often times unintentionally discriminate non-Koreans.

My company is giving orientations for Japanese students in how to use the Korean subway ticket machines, because there wasn't any Japanese translated manuals.

Hanok houses

Hanoks are traditional Korean houses. There aren't that many around in Seoul, and the ones that are left are in danger of being demolished. I took a tour around the walkway of Samcheondong; where there are still many Hanoks left.

Along the walkway many of the Hanoks have been transformed into little restaurants or cafes.

Exotic foods in Korea

Korea has a very interesting list of "exotic" cuisine. The open food market in Korea often has many dishes that I have never seen or heard of before. Not big on seafood myself, I've never tried any of fresh Korean seafood, but maybe some of the braver souls who stumble upon this will.

Live soup recipe

Mudfish soup can't compare to live octopus dish.